


Come a Little Closer

by MirrorMystic



Series: The Kawakemi Korner [2]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Roommates, drinking buddies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 03:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13402143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirrorMystic/pseuds/MirrorMystic
Summary: Sometimes, the only thing stopping girl friends from being girlfriends is that little space between.(Or: Two roommates drink at home on a Saturday night, and pretend it isn’t a date.)





	Come a Little Closer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alexilulu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexilulu/gifts).



> My humble contribution to an underappreciated tag. I hope you all enjoy the read. ^^

~*~  
  
It’s alcohol that finally brings them together.  
  
Okay, that sounds bad. That’s hardly the most romantic notion, and Sadayo hates it when Tae phrases it like that. But it’s true, in its way. Three times they met each other, it involved alcohol. The first, when Sadayo first stumbled into Takemi Medical Clinic having scraped her knees on the pavement, and Tae cleaned her up, free of charge. The second, when Tae happened to run into her at Crossroads- and Sadayo quickly explained that she just wanted a night away from men, and she didn’t know that it was one of _those_ bars. And the third…  
  
Well. It’s been an interesting year.  
  
Tonight, Tae sits curled up on the couch, listening to the rain against the window. She reaches out and refills her glass from the box of wine on the table beside her. It was the perfect night for a glass of wine. Or two. Or five. She’d been saving this box for a rainy day, and tonight, it was pouring.  
  
The door slams. There’s a brief roar of the storm outside, followed by a groan of frustration, a muttered “Mother Nature can go fuck herself”, and then, after a moment, a belated “I’m home”. Tae just sips her wine, and smiles.  
  
Sadayo’s keys hit the counter by the door with a clunk. She steps, puzzled, into a darkened apartment, until a flash of lightning illuminates Tae’s silhouette curled up on the couch, glinting off the glass in her hands. Sadayo smiles, and shakes her head.  
  
“Feeling dramatic?” she asks, flicking on the lights.  
  
“Setting the mood,” Tae replies with a smirk.  
  
Sadayo rolls her eyes and steps into her room, shaking rainwater from her hair and the lapels of her blazer. She emerges some time later, in a T-shirt and shorts. Tae sneaks a peek over the rim of her glass.  
  
“Look at you, cutie,” she purrs.  
  
Sadayo just shakes her head and sinks into the couch, blowing out a sigh. She tips her head back and closes her eyes.  
  
“What a day…” Sadayo murmurs. “I hope you saved me some of that wine.”  
  
“You should’ve bought your own box,” Tae chides beside her. But when Sadayo opens her eyes, Tae’s already poured her a glass.  
  
Sadayo takes it with a grateful smile. She takes a sip.  
  
“...mm!” Sadayo mumbles into her glass. “Ooh, yes. That’s good.”  
  
“There’s curry in the fridge, if you’d rather not drink on an empty stomach.”  
  
Sadayo flashes her a strange look. She blinks.  
  
“You… made me dinner?”  
  
“I _bought_ you dinner,” Tae says. “Look at our fridge. I can’t whip up home-made curry out of nothing but wine and beer. Although, I _do_ know a guy who’d give it his best shot.”  
  
“We need to get groceries, then,” Sadayo starts listing chores on her fingers. “We should do laundry, too. I need to go to the bank… the pharmacy… we should clean…”  
  
“What’s this ‘we’ stuff?” Tae cuts in. “ _I’m_ not doing any of that. Tomorrow’s Sunday. Let’s just stay in.” Tae’s eyes light up. “I could get more wine!”  
  
“Like _you_ need more wine,” Sadayo teases.  
  
Tae huffs in indignation. “Pot. Kettle.”  
  
“You got me,” Sadayo admits, smirking. Tae scoops the empty glass out of her hand and pointedly refills it without a word.  
  
“How was work?” Sadayo asks.  
  
“Empty,” Tae shrugs. “Nobody’s gonna come by in this storm. I closed up early, and got a head start on the night’s drinking. You?”  
  
Sadayo blows out a sigh and sinks into her seat, draping an arm across her eyes.  
  
“...Work was… fine. Kids managed to stay quiet long enough to get a lecture in, which is better than most days.” Sadayo shrugs. “...I don’t know.”  
  
“You don’t know?” Tae echoes. Sadayo can hear her slipping into her ‘doctor’ voice.  
  
“I don’t know. I had a kid come to me today, and tell me how he’d picked up a new book by his favorite author. He said it got him ‘in my feelings’. Back in my day, we used to say things ‘gave us the feels’. I don’t know. It made me feel old. That’s stupid, I know.”  
  
“It’s not stupid,” Tae chides. “You had a thing after school, right? How did it go?”  
  
Sadayo smiles, rueful. “It didn’t. He stood me up. Not that I blame him, weather like this.”  
  
“Prick,” Tae scowls. “You need someone who’ll run through the rain for you.”  
  
“I don’t think he’ll come running for a 75 percent match,” Sadayo mutters.  
  
“His loss,” Tae shrugs.  
  
“Sorry,” Sadayo says, sheepish. “I bet you were looking forward to having the place to yourself for once, huh?”  
  
“Why, so I could drink in the dark, doing my best Anne Rice?” Tae laughs. “No. This is just fine.”  
  
The evening ambles along at a languid pace. Despite the thunderstorm pounding at their windows, the night remains warm, and soothing- Tae thinks it must be the wine.  
  
Somehow, Tae’s wound up with her arm around Sadayo’s shoulders, Sadayo giggling like a moron as she scrolls down her phone. It’s like she’s in college again, and the phrasing of that thought makes Tae scowl. College wasn’t _that_ long ago, was it? Now she feels old.  
  
“Man, I don’t want to go to _work_ on Monday,” Sadayo drawls, grinning. “I want to go home!”  
  
“You _are_ home,” Tae mutters, bemused. Sadayo’s such a lightweight when it comes to liquor.  
  
“You know what I mean,” Sadayo rolls her eyes. An alarm chirps on her phone, and she tosses it aside.  
  
“Take your meds,” Tae chides.  
  
Sadayo reaches across Tae, making grabby hands. “...Mm. Nope. Too far.”  
  
“What are you, twelve?” Tae rolls her eyes. She reaches past her regrettably empty wine box and grabs Sadayo’s seven-day pill planner off of the end table and hands it over.  
  
Sadayo walks over to their little alcove kitchenette and pours them both a glass of water. When she returns, settling casually into the crook of Tae’s arm, Tae’s staring at her. There’s an odd look, a strange intensity in her eyes- almost like Tae’s deciding where to stick a needle into her. Sadayo finds herself blushing under Tae’s gaze. Tae taps thoughtfully at her chin, nodding to herself.  
  
“Do you know what you need?” Tae asks.  
  
“Anti-depressants? A nap? More wine?”  
  
“Yes, yes, and why, do you have any?  
  
Sadayo giggles. “And here I thought you were gonna say ‘a good fuck’.”  
  
Tae sputters, and Sadayo laughs, playfully shoving her away.  
  
“I don’t know,” Sadayo continues, poking at her phone. “With these piece of crap dating apps, I don’t think that’s gonna happen anytime soon.”  
  
“Well, have you ever thought about widening the field?” Tae asks. “I know some people. Maybe I could try asking around…”  
  
“Oh, Tae, I- I couldn’t-”  
  
“What?” Tae nudges her arm. “There’s this one girl I know, she’s cute. Spends too much time drinking, just like us, so you’ll feel right at home. If you want somebody with more of a stick up their butt, there’s this attorney-”  
  
“Tae, Tae,” Sadayo pouts. “I don’t… I don’t know if I like girls.”  
  
She must see the immense doubt in Tae’s look, because she relents.  
  
“Alright, alright,” Sadayo sighs. “It’s more like… I don’t know if girls like _me_ .”  
  
Sadayo hangs her head, feeling glum. But then she feels Tae brush her hair out of her face. She looks up, Tae’s fingers lingering on her cheek. Their eyes meet for a long moment.  
  
“You never asked,” Tae whispers.  
  
They’re so close. Close enough that Tae can just about see the future in her eyes. The whole world melts away, until it’s just them, this moment, and the space between.  
  
Sadayo feels Tae’s breath ghost across her lips. All that’s left between them is an inch of indecision.  
  
Sadayo swallows hard, and sighs.  
  
“I should… get to bed,” she murmurs. “Lots to do tomorrow.”  
  
Tae bites her lip. She stops short, and nods. “...Y-Yeah. Right. I… I should, too.”  
  
“We need to do groceries, laundry-”  
  
“You need to go to the bank-”  
  
“Yeah, and then we’ll, we’ll, uh, do… lunch? I can cook.”  
  
“Yeah, that sounds… good.”  
  
“Good.”  
  
“I’ll, um…” Sadayo stands up, gesturing vaguely to her bedroom door. “...I’ll… see you.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
Tae watches Sadayo retreat into her room, her heart pounding in her chest. She sits back on the couch, crossing and uncrossing her legs. Her gaze lingers on Sadayo’s door, before flicking back to the box on the table beside her. Outside her window, the storm just keeps on roaring.  
  
Tae sighs.  
  
She’s going to need more wine.  
  
~*~


End file.
